Chapter 20: Shrine of the Seal Part 3 Air
It was a square room, which only contained a small, wooden bridge, which formed a right angle in the top right hand corner. This bridge had a windmill on the side of the horizontal half while the vertical half led to the wall of the room and so to a dead end. Besides the door, which was located eastern and through which the group had entered, there were two other doors. One southern and the other one western.
''So, what now?'' Alan asked after he had looked around.
''We take the bridge to get to the rooms'' Issun answered.
''If you haven´t realized it yet, the bridge leads to the wall and not to the rooms. So how shall we use it to get to them if it´s not even leading to them?'' Alan asked rational.
''We have to move the bridge'' Issun replied casual.
''And how are we supposed to move it?'' Alan asked while crossing his arms in front of his chest and looking expectant at Issun.
''It´s not that hard'' Issun responded.
Alan looked unconvinced at him.
He sighed at this before he raised his voice to explain:
''The key to move the bridge is the windmill on the side of it. If it rotates, the bridge will move. So furball just has to use Galestorm on the windmill while we are on the bridge and it will move''
''Wow, that sounds pretty easy'' Manon said cheerful.
Issun smiled at her and the group went on the bridge, where they stopped in front of the windmill.
Then time froze and Amaterasu drew a loop with the tip of her tail. When time moved on a strong wind blew and caused the windmill to rotate and the bridge to turn 90 degrees.
After that, the group went south, opened the door and entered the next room.
It was a square room, which contained a stone staircase, that was divided into three parts and was in the back of the room. Between the gaps were two holes, which had the size of a football and from which lightning emerged, on the wall. This happened for a few seconds. Then it stopped for a little while before lightning emerged again. Underneath the holes hung two long, light grey flags with the symbol of a white spiral on it. At the end of the staircase was a platform, which contained the door to the next room in the top left hand corner and a yellow Platform Spider in the opposite direction.
After the group had looked around, they headed to the staircase and went to the end of the first part.
''How can we get to the other side?'' Manon asked once they reached it.
''Well …'' Issun began, but was interrupted by Alan, who had looked at the flags intensely.
''We can use the flags, which are hanging on the wall. Amaterasu just has to use this Galestorm technique, so that the flags build a bridge for us''
''You´re right, but we need to be fast. The effects of Galestorm will only last for a few seconds and besides that we must time it right, so that no lightning emerges from the holes when we cross the flags'' Issun said a little taken aback, that Alan had figured it out what they had to do.
Alan grabbed Manon´s hand, which caused her to blush slightly, smiled at her lovingly and waited with the rest of the group for the lightning to stop. Once that was the case, Ammy froze the time and drew a loop with the tip of her tail. When time moved on a strong gust blew, which heaved the flags, so that the group could cross them.
They jumped from the first part of the staircase on the first flag, then the second one and eventually on the second part of the staircase just before lightning started to emerge from the holes again.
Then the group went to the edge of the middle part and waited. When the lightning stopped, Amaterasu used Galestorm again and the group jumped on the flags to cross the second gap and arrive the platform.
Once they reached it safely, Alan slowly released Manon´s hand and together with the rest of the group they walked to the door, opened it and entered the next room.
It was a square room with three niches in the back of it, which had the same distance between them and contained a wooden ventilator each. These ventilators created a vigorous wind through the whole room and made it hard to stand. A few meters in front of the ventilator in the center was a treasure chest. On the ceiling of the room was a large hole, through which you could see thunderclouds, that covered the sky outside. Every now and then lightning lit up the dark sky and so the room.
Once the group had entered the room, they were surprised by the strong wind and struggled to keep their balance to stand.
''What do we do now?'' Manon asked shouting against the wind while looking around and trying to make the content of the room out.
''I don´t know the wind is too strong, even for furball. Besides that it´s too dark to see anything'' Issun replied shouting against the roaring wind.
Suddenly lightning escaped the thunderclouds and lit up the room for a short amount of time.
''Did you see that?'' Alan asked exclaiming.
''What do you mean?'' Manon asked still shouting.
''As the lightning lit up the room, there was something in the back of it. I don´t know what it is, but it seems, that it´s the only thing in this room. And if that´s the case we should check it out'' Alan answered loudly.
''But how? It´s already hard just to stand here, so how can we get to the back of the room?'' Manon asked exclaiming.
As answer Alan grabbed Lizardon´s Pokéball, threw it in the air and called:
''Lizardon, I choose you!''
The Pokéball opened and released Lizardon, who struggled a little to stand once that happened.
Alan neared him and got on his back, while Issun was skeptical about his plan to get to the back of the room.
''Be right back'' Alan exclaimed confidently before Lizardon rose in the air.
He tried his hardest to fly as fast as he could towards the object in the back of the room, but the vigorous wind allowed only a slow progress.
Once he and Alan managed 1/4 of the way, another lightning escaped the thunderclouds, lit up the room and revealed the object.
''It´s a treasure chest!'' Alan exclaimed when he recognized the object.
''A treasure chest?'' Manon inquired shouting.
''Yes, and I bet, that it contains the last Exorcism Key'' Alan replied loudly with a confident smile on his face while Lizardon struggled to fly further forward.
Despite his confidence, Manon had a bad feeling about this and watched him worriedly.
But it seemed, that her concern was without any reason since they were almost there without anything happened so far, until suddenly another lightning lit up the sky.
Without even noticing it, the wind had pushed Alan and Lizardon towards the opening in the ceiling and so dangerously near to the thunderclouds. When the lightning escaped them, it shot to Alan and Lizardon and hit them straight on. They were electrocuted and began to fall downwards to the ground.
Once Manon saw this, her eyes widened in horror, tears slowly filled them and she screamed as loud as she could:
''ALAN! NO!''
Her voice drowned out the roaring wind and reached his ears. As soon as it did, Alan opened his eyes wide and tried to stop the fall by trying to restore Lizardon to consciousness.
After a few light shakes he succeeded in doing so and Lizardon spread his wings to stop the fall.
Seeing this, Manon sighed relieved, but her worry for Alan didn´t disappear entirely.
Meanwhile Lizardon had reached the back of the room and landed behind the treasure chest. Alan got off his back, went to the front side of the treasure chest and opened it. Once it was open, he grabbed the blue Exorcism Key, which had been inside of it and neared Lizardon. He climbed on his back, Lizardon rose in the air and flew towards the rest of the group. Because of the tailwind it didn´t take him long to reach them and he landed.
When Lizardon´s feet touched the ground, Alan got off his back again, grabbed his Pokéball and returned him into it. Then he gave Issun, who eyed him with a slightly concerned look, the Exorcism Key.
''Are you alright?'' Issun asked loudly while looking from the corner of his eyes at Manon.
Her eyes were filled with tears and she bit her bottom lip, trying to fight back the tears, which threatened to roll down her cheeks.
''I´m fine'' Alan replied.
This answer caused Issun to look doubtfully at him, but he ignored it and turned to Manon.
''Manon'' Alan called.
Hearing him calling her name was all it took to break her will to fight back her tears and she ran to him to put her arms tightly around him. This sudden body contact caused him to wince in pain. Once she heard his pain, Manon looked scared at him and wanted to disband the hug, but Alan stopped her by wrapping his arms around her.
''Alan, stop! I don´t want to hurt you!'' Manon said trying to disband the hug again, but failed in doing so.
''You don´t hurt me'' Alan replied reassuring.
''But …'' Manon began, but was interrupted by Alan.
''No buts. It was just the sudden body contact, that caused me pain''
Hearing this, Manon hugged him tighter, without putting too much pressure onto him and tried to calm down.
After a few more minutes, she succeeded in doing so and they disbanded the hug.
''Are you ready to go now?'' Issun asked smiling.
''Yes, but where do we go? I don´t see another door here'' Manon exclaimed.
''Do you remember the first room of this area?'' Issun asked.
Manon nodded and Issun continued:
''Well, there was another door, which we haven´t used yet. So I suggest, that we go to the first room and go through that door.''
The rest of the group nodded in agreement, turned around, walked to the door, through which they had entered the room, opened it and left the room.
Once they entered the room, they turned right and walked to the yellow Platform Spider. On their way Alan grabbed Manon´s hand, which caused a faint blush and a bright smile to appear on her face.
When the group arrived the Platform Spider, they jumped on its back and it began to climb down its twine. Just before it reached the end of it, the group jumped off its back. The Platform Spider climbed down to the end of its twine, turned and started to climb up again, while the group walked to the door.
While they were walking Manon noticed, that Alan was still holding her hand and didn´t seem to realize it. Seeing this, she smiled even brighter than before and nearly skipped towards the door.
The group reached it, opened the door and entered the first room of this area. Then they went on the bridge, stopped in front of the windmill and Amaterasu froze the time.
She drew a loop with the tip of her tail, which caused a strong wind to blow, the windmill to rotate and the bridge to turn 90 degrees once the time moved on.
After that the group headed west, opened the door and entered the next room.
It was a square room with three platforms, which had different sizes and were formed by square tiles. The biggest platform was in the anterior quarter of the room, while the smallest one was in the top right hand corner, where the door to the last room of this area was located. Every now and then a strong wind emerged through the gaps between them. Besides the platforms the room also contained five stone lamps, which appeared to have an eye, which was currently closed. There were two in the back, two in the center and one in the bottom right hand corner on the wall. Apart from that the ceiling was covered with prickles.
''This room seems pretty easy'' Manon stated cheerful once she had looked around.
''A little bit too easy'' Alan said mistrusting.
''You´re right, the easiness of this room is suspicious. Besides I have a feeling, that I have seen those lamps before, but I can´t remember where'' Issun replied thoughtful.
''Ammy, do you remember something about them?'' Issun asked.
She shook her head in response.
Issun sighed at this and tried to remember, but failed doing so.
''Well, I guess we shouldn´t underestimate this room and be more careful than usual'' Issun suggested.
The rest of the group agreed and together they walked to the edge of the first platform. There, they waited for the wind to stop. When that happened, they jumped to the next platform.
The group wanted to go to the edge of this platform, but stopped once an alert sounded and a grid blocked both doors. The eyes of the lamps opened.
''What´s happening?'' Manon asked panicked while looking around and squeezing Alan´s hand tighter.
''I don´t …'' Alan began, but stopped in midsentence.
His eyes widened in pure horror at what he saw.
''Alan, what´s wrong?'' Manon asked scared by the fear in his eyes.
''The tiles. They are disappearing'' Alan answered.
''What?'' Manon exclaimed shocked and looked in the direction Alan was looking.
Once she saw the tiles disappearing, her eyes widened and her heartbeat quickened.
''But that´s not our only problem'' Issun stated while pointing to the ceiling.
Manon and Alan looked to it and gasped at what they saw.
The ceiling was moving downwards; bringing the prickles, that covered it towards the group.
At this sight, Manon began to shiver with fear.
Seeing this, Alan hugged her tightly and tried to reassure her by stroking her back, but it didn´t work. Instead it caused her eyes to glaze and fill with tears, which slowly ran down her cheeks.
''I´m scared'' Manon said sobbing.
''Me too''Alan replied.
I never thought it would end like this. Alan looked up at the ceiling and then to the remaining tiles of the platform before his gaze rested on Manon. I guess that´s the last chance I will get to tell her how I feel.
He took a deep breath before he pulled away a bit, so that he could look her in the eyes.
Once he did this, she looked up at him.
Okay, here it goes.
''Manon, I … I …'' Alan began, but was interrupted by Issun´s exclamation.
''Now I remember! Ammy, use Power Slash on the lamps!''
Amaterasu barked in response and froze the time. Then she drew a straight line through the lamps, which were in the back and the center of the room. When time moved on, an invisible blade hit them, Ammy turned around and froze the time again. She drew a straight line through the lamp in the bottom right hand corner, which was hit once the time moved on.
When all lamps were hit their eyes closed, the alert stopped and the grid in front of the doors vanished. Besides that the tiles slowly appeared again while the ceiling moved upwards.
Relieved that they survived this trap, Manon and Alan slowly disbanded the hug and turned to Amaterasu and Issun.
''I´m glad you remembered in time what to do'' Manon stated.
''Yeah, me too. Me and Ammy have stumbled across a similar room two years ago on Oni Island. At this time we were on our way to the top of the fortress to beat this back-stabber Ninetails, who pretended to be the priest Rao to kill Queen Himiko'' Issun replied reminiscing.
''But enough of that. We should go to the next room'' Issun said after a little while.
''Yeah, but before we do that …'' Manon started and turned to Alan.
''What did you want to tell me before Issun-san interrupted you, Alan?'' she continued.
Hearing this, Issun raised an eyebrow and slightly smirked. He could imagine what Alan had wanted to tell her when he thought, that they would die and was curious what he will say now.
All eyes were on Alan.
''Oh … um... I... I forgot'' Alan answered using the first excuse, that he could find.
''Oh, okay'' Manon said.
Issun sighed at Alan´s lame excuse and raised his voice:
''We need to go to the next room''
The rest of the group agreed and together they went to the edge of this platform. There, they stopped and waited for the wind to stop. Just before the wind calmed down, Alan grabbed Manon´s hand, which caused her to smile.
Once this happened, the group jumped to the smallest platform of the room, walked to the door, opened it and entered the next room.
It was a round room, which had grillage as ground. Through it you could see many little canals, which led in many directions and through which wind escaped. One of those canals went up the wall on the right side of the room and ended above a platform. At the end of the canal was a light grey crystal with the symbol of a white spiral on it, which was the source of all the wind in this area. Next to the platform stood a yellow Platform Spider.
When the group entered this room, they were hit by the strong wind coursing through it. Although the wind wasn´t as strong as in the room where they had obtained the blue Exorcism Key, it was hard to stand straight.
''Where is the key for the stone gate? I can´t see it'' Manon shouted against the wind.
''It probably is on the platform'' Alan replied loudly.
''You´re right. This platform must have a reason to be there. But how do we get there? It is too high for Ammy to jump'' Issun shouted thoughtful.
I could use Lizardon, but I rather want him to rest some more after what happened the last time I used him.
''I have an idea'' Manon suddenly exclaimed while letting go of Alan´s hand.
Everyone turned to Manon and waited for her to explain her idea.
''Well, I thought, that I could use my kerchief and the wind to get up to the platform'' she explained loudly while opening the knot of her kerchief.
''Are you sure? I could use Lizardon instead'' Alan suggested worried about Manon.
''No, he needs to rest'' Manon countered shouting.
''But...'' Alan began, but was interrupted by Manon.
''No buts. I will get the key''
Alan sighed at this and recommend worried:
''Just be careful''
Manon nodded smiling before she struggled her way through the wind to the center of the room.
Once she reached it, she unfolded her kerchief and held it with both hands over her head. The wind filled it with air, which caused it to form a bulge and lifted Manon up to the ceiling of the room. Then she steered herself forward towards the platform.
While she did that, Alan looked worried up while resting his left hand over Lizardon´s Pokéball, in case he needed him to save Manon.
But fortunately she arrived the platform safely. She landed, tied her kerchief around her neck again and walked towards the light grey crystal. Then she grabbed it and used her whole strength to pull it out.
Once she succeeded in doing so, the wind abruptly stopped and a white light beam appeared on the left side of the room.
''Manon, are you alright?'' Issun asked shouting.
She walked to the end of the platform, where the spider was and replied:
''Yes, I´m fine. I have the key for the stone gate''
Hearing this, Alan sighed relieved and his hand left Lizardon´s Pokéball.
Then she jumped on the back of the yellow Platform Spider. Once it felt something on its back, it climbed down its twine. Before it reached the end of it, Manon jumped off its back and ran towards the rest of the group.
When she reached them, they walked to the white light beam, stepped into it and were transported to the entrance hall. There, they went to the stone gate and Manon put the crystal in the slot at the bottom left hand corner.
Once she did that, the bottom left glowed in a white light.
''Only one more left'' Manon said cheerful.
''Yes, and then we can finally get through this gate'' Alan said.
The group turned right and neared the last Lockjaw.
Once it felt the presence of the Exorcism Key, it started to shiver in fear. The key flew from Issun´s hands to the eye of the demon, turned around and caused it to stuck out its tongue. It began to glow in a white light and exploded right afterwards.
After that, the group opened the door and entered the first room of the last area.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I had troubles with the room description of the second room and changed a few things in the other rooms to make them more exciting (at least I hope they are now). I don´t know when I will upload the next chapter, because the last area isn´t entirely planned yet. Three rooms are missing and I have no ideas for them. If you have suggestions I would be glad to hear them. Well, with that said I hope, that you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned to find out what will happen next :)
Jun 25, 2016: Just one more room is missing.
Jul 8, 2016: The last area is now entirely planned.